Using DNA to Make Mugshots

less a home is tricked out with security cameras or police can find clear evidence, if a burglar breaks in, there's no way of knowing whodunit. Even if a victim sees the perpetrator and sits down with a sketch artist, memory can be faulty or biased—just ask the countless black men who've "fit the description."

A group of Penn State University researchers have developed a technological solution that uses the one part of us that never lies: DNA. Led by anthropologist Mark Shriver, the research team has created computer software that generates a 3-D facial model. All it needs is something—a hair, a fingernail, or saliva—with your genetic code.